The Snow Fairy
by trained2love
Summary: Royal Anna meets weapon Elsa. Anna sneaks away from the palace and meets a girl with powers over ice and snow. They become friends only to be separated. When a new weapon for Arendale is presented to the kingdom years later will titles and expectations keep they from mending their friendship? A story of living up to expectations and sometimes just letting them go. Elsanna!
1. The Snow Fairy

She was there.

Anna had been waiting, hoping, praying, every night since that first time, that she would see the lights again. Just as she had almost given up, her head beginning to drop to her chest in weariness from the long day, she saw them, dancing through the trees, the way her heart was suddenly dancing in her chest.

If she had turned away a second earlier she would have missed them. Would have missed her. And she hesitated a second to enjoy the privilege of the long awaited sight before hopping down from the little nest of blankets she'd made on the window seal and racing back to her bed and to the items she had strung across it in the hopes that tonight would be the night.

* * *

><p>Anna was a curious five year old. None of this should be possible. A five year old should not be able to roam through their house in the dead of night. A royal should not be able to escape the palace walls so easily unseen. And a princess should not go running into the dark woods through the snow by herself in chase of a mysterious dancing light.<p>

But Anna was a curious five year old. Unusually clumsy and adventurous, you'd think the life of a princess would give her a certain freedom denied other children, but you'd be wrong.

If anything Anna had missed out on far too many normal childhood activities because of her royal upbringing. The only child growing up in a castle all by herself. Becoming an expert at dodging tutors and avoiding guards as she struggled, with all the strength a five year old could muster, against the restricting schedule and expectations of a princess.

It was on one of these adventure, when she was supposed to be in a calligraphy lesson, that she had discovered the hole in the garden wall. Nothing spectacular or even threatening to the well being of the royal family, just a small hole that had remained inconspicuous behind the trunk of a towering Oak tree in the edge of the garden.

Anna had been excited with the prospect of an illicit adventure into the town outside the castle walls, until after pulling away a few more stones, she had managed to wriggle through the hole to find that the garden did not share a wall with the town but rather faced in the opposite direction and nothing had been awaiting Anna on the other side but the forests that surrounded all of Arendelle.

This discovery, though disappointing at first, had been Anna's source of entertainment for the next few weeks, until she had discovered an unused servants staircase leading into the kitchens, whose entrance happened to be only a few doors down from the room she normally attended her literature lesson in, and the excitement of stolen snacks and chocolate delights took over.

So it was that until that first night when Anna had seen the lights, her secret passage way to the outside world had almost been forgotten.

* * *

><p>Now the young princess snuck through the halls of the palace as quickly and quietly as she could. Using her lesson skipping skills to make her way into the garden unseen.<p>

She couldn't help the squeal of delight that escaped her at the sight of the snow that blanketed the flower beds and, while well trampled with the comings and goings of servants from over the last few days, still shown beautifully in the moonlight.

Giggling to herself, her mittens pressed together as she skipped towards the tree, she only paused for a second to add a halo to a snow angel that some young gardener must have made the previous day, before she was wriggling through the wall on her hands and knees towards the other side.

* * *

><p>There it was, she was getting close to the little pond and could see the lights dancing in the air again. Hardly able to contain her glee she tried to be quiet even as she clumsily rushed forward, darting from tree to tree, shoving her hands in her pockets roughly to check that the item she had placed there had not fallen out.<p>

She had made it to the bushes, and she congratulated herself as she inched forward, the cold biting at her poor red nose as she pulled her scarf and hat off to get a better look.

Her awe caught somewhere in her chest and for a moment she forgot how to breath.

She was there.

Even having seen her before, even knowing in her head what the lights represented didn't stop the awe and joy that filled Anna at seeing her again. It was a relief, as if she'd been worried that last time was only a dream and some how she couldn't believe it until she saw her again. Saw her do magic again.

And now with her heart in her throat and anticipation pumping through her young veins Anna leaned forward eagerly and peered through the branches and was finally able to see the blond girl standing in the middle of the frozen pond.

A couple years older then Anna with pale blond hair braided down her back Anna could swear this girl was not human. No one could look that perfect, no human could be that beautiful, or that graceful. It should be obvious to anyone Anna thought peering through the leaves, the girl had obviously thought a human form would help her blend in, but five year old Anna was too clever for that, because she knew what she was and there was no point in her unrealistic disguise because all it did was make her stand out. Anna would have known what she was even if she had not first seen her a few weeks from now in the exact same spot she was in now. Even if the lights that had drawn her here hadn't been flowing from her fingers in bursts of magical displays.

She had magic and that decided it. The girl could not be human. Humans could not be this wonderful.

Indeed at the moment the girl looked beyond human as she danced across the frozen pond. Not the hyperactive dance of jumps and spins that Anna used to express her glee at a pace that usually continued until either Anna or those watching her became dizzy, but this girl danced with a graceful twirl a smile softly playing across her face in joy as snow gently twirled upward, conjured by and from her hand. The pond itself glowed as she stepped patterns of snowflakes flashing over the ice the only footprints the girl left. Her arms came down and she bent over gesturing at the ice in front of her and a patch of it rose up in a column to greet her, raising with her arms as it shot skyward purple and blue lights shining through it to illuminate the girls pale smiling face.

Anna tore her eyes away from the awe striking scene. Reaching into her pocket her little hands fumbled with the jar in her pocket. She couldn't get distracted she had a mission, if she didn't want to miss her chance she had to focus. Her eyebrows descending on her brow in concentration she slowly made her way along behind the bushes closer towards the ones that grew on the very edge of the pond where this unearthly girl played with the ice.

Reaching them she took a breath, puffing her cheeks full of air before letting them deflate again. Watching as the girl came closer and closer to Anna's hiding place conjuring ice columns as she went.

It was snowing.

And somehow Anna knew, with a certainty that only children are capable of, that it was snowing only in the area around this little pond, around and because of this strange magical girl.

This girl who was getting closer to where Anna hid.

* * *

><p>"Kai! Kai!" shrieked the young princess rushing down the hall on her stubby legs.<p>

The elderly manservant turned towards the girl a smile playing at the corner of his mouth as he opened his arms to accept the princess in a hug as she hurtled into him.

"Careful young one!" his laugh expressed not only from his mouth but in his eyes as well as he swung the princess into the air. "Your tutor is looking for you ag-"

"I saw a fairy!" gushed Anna not even listening to him in her excitement, "help me catch it! Please! Please!"

"A fairy?" remarked Kai amusement still twinkling in his eyes "That's quite something snowflake"

"It's a snow fairy!" Anna practically shouted into the old mans ear. squirming so much in her excitement that Kai was forced to place her back onto the ground. "Please Kai help me catch her, I HAVE to catch her! Then I can bring her back here and she can use her magic and we can be best friends, it'll be just like having a sister!" She babbled.

The man knelt down by Anna "Don't tell me you don't know the stories about how to catch a snow fairy?" he grinned as Anna's eyes widened and she furiously shook her head looking up pleadingly for him to continue.

"Well girl what you have to know about snow fairies is..."

* * *

><p>Three more steps.<p>

Two.

One.

She was right in front of the bush Anna was hiding behind her arms extend towards the newly falling snow. And Anna made her move.

"AAHHHHHH" yelled Anna as she jumped forward jar in hand and tossed it's mixture at the girl now reeling backwards from the edge of the pond in shock. The white powder hit the girl square in the face and she fell backwards in an uncharacteristically graceless flop onto her backside. The white powder falling from her hair and face as she seemed to regain herself for a moment and begin to spring back up again in panic.

Anna however was so determined in her assault that she had misjudged the force with which she had launched herself and the sturdiness of the ice under her feet and found herself hurtled back on top of her mysterious snow fairy sending her sprawling back down on the ice.

Not one to let such trivial matters deter her she found herself looking directly down into the girls face as she quickly gasped out the next part of her spell.

"Snow fairy bright, be still this night!" her voice raising at the alarmed expression of the face directly in front of her

"Lonely fairy never, we'll be together forever" she continued closing her eyes to concentrate on the last line of the rhyme Kai had taught her.

"Come with me and friends we'll be!" She shouted triumphantly opening her eyes and sitting back off the girl. Before remembering the final part and digging through her pocket to pull out a slightly squashed bag of chocolate treats and holding them out with a large grin on her face to the girl who still hadn't moved from her position flat on the ice.

"Here eat these before you get in the jar, they're my favorite, cook makes them for my birthday every year" she proudly announced, not deterred at all by the other girl's silent stare.

"Kai says that the final step to capturing a fairy is to share your favorite food with them to prove you're friends" the girl remained silent and Anna looked at her curiously before bursting into giggles.

"You're still covered in sugar!" she shrieked and slammed both hands over her mouth to try to contain the laughter that was bubbling out of her stomach. The girl still said nothing blue eyes still gazing in astonishment and something rather like wonder at Anna as she rocked back and forth in her glee.

"Here" said Anna with a grin and she leaned forward quickly, despite the girl's sudden jerk backwards, and began dusting the sugar she had sprayed all over the girl off her hair and face as she lay there apparently frozen, eyes even wider then they'd been moments before.

"Kai told me the you would absorb the mixture," Anna muttered slightly disgruntled still patting down the girl's hair "it's sugar with a little bit of salt see? Sweet as a sign of friendship and white like snow for your powers" she held up some on her finger misinterpreting the way the girl's eyes suddenly widened in panic.

"Don't worry" she said hastily, "it's very little salt, I know salt is normally used to make fairies go away, but Kai said to capture one I needed just a little to keep you from escaping."

She was met with silence again and frowned. The fairy was just laying there staring at her with those wide beautiful blue eyes of hers like she'd never seen a human before. Then Anna realized maybe she hadn't. Shifting, suddenly shy in front of the beautiful creature she had just knocked to the ground, she slowly held out her hand.

"I'm Anna" she told the girl, then hesitantly "do you, uh, do you have a name?" she asked quietly, suddenly feeling suffocated by the lack of words from her newly captured friend.

The girl opened her mouth as if to respond but then just started at Anna, closed it, opened it again and Anna finally heard her voice "I'm Elsa" she said quietly propping herself up on her elbows as her curious gaze ran over Anna as if assessing her. "I'm sorry Anna" she said quietly to the younger girl "but I'm not a fairy."


	2. Not a Fairy

_I'm not a fairy._

_I'm not a fairy._

_I'm not a fairy._

Anna frowned at the girl not entertained in the slightest by her denial. "You're magic" she said as if that decided the matter. Then grabbing the bag of chocolate again and thrust it into the girl's chest. "Eat it, you know you won't be able to do magic again until you do."

The girl just stared at Anna as she blinked up at the princess with astonishingly blue eyes her words leaving her in a soft exhale of astonishment "You...aren't afraid of me?"

Anna just frowned again, why was this fairy acting so surprised? "Of course not," she said looking as if it was the most obvious thing in the world "why would I be afraid of you?"

"I could have hurt you" Elsa said softly "I was so surprised I almost attacked you" and she gestured, pointing at the ice surrounding them and Anna, realizing her surroundings for the first time since tackling the girl, saw the line of icicles surrounding where the two girls currently lay, spiking outward in a vicious circle of jagged, dagger like icicles.

"Oh" Anna's voice escaped her, looking down uncertainly at Elsa "I'm sor-, I-I didn't mea-" she paused ringing her hands suddenly looking everywhere but at the eyes of the girl in front of her. "I just didn't want you to disappear." she admitted quietly "I didn't mean to scare you" she said sincerely grabbing Elsa's arm in her desperation to make her understand, missing Elsa's surprised jerk at the contact in her anxiousness. "Don't be mad I-" her rant was abruptly cut off as she paused in puzzlement staring at Elsa and the sugar still in her hair then turning to look at the ice surrounding them, then back to Elsa.

"...you're not supposed to do magic" she said dumbly releasing Elsa's arm and sitting back regarding her with an almost accusing stare. "The spell's supposed to stop you until it's done."

There was a pause as the two girls regarded each other warily before Elsa reluctantly dragged herself up so she was sitting delicately on the ice facing the confused Anna. She regarded her for a moment before she finally spoke breaking the silence that had descended over the two of them.

"I'm not a fairy Anna." And slowly holding out her hand in between the two of them she extended her palm and conjured bright snow flakes that twisted and danced up through her fingers and around her hand before she stretched out her arm and let them escape into the silent night sky.

She looked back down hesitant and wary of revealing herself to this stranger of a girl, only to find Anna staring at her with a horror struck expression, her face flushing a bright pink and darkening into a deep magenta so quickly Elsa could have sworn Anna was no longer breathing. Then before she could do anything to address this already alarming response Anna burst into tears.

"WAAAHH!" Elsa exclaimed so started that the undignified exclamation slipped through her lips before she could stop it.

"I though-I thought you w-were a s-s-snow f-fairy!" Anna sobbed burying her face in her mittens. "I-I'm so sorry!" She spluttered as Elsa regarded her in alarm. "You m-must think I'm s-so st-stupid! I'm so em-embarrassed!" And as Elsa watched the little girl seem to crumple in on herself pulling her knees up to her chest as the great sobs shook her little body. Her blue eyes suddenly peering over her knees to fix desperately on Elsa as tears pored out of them and down her young cheeks. "Please, P-Please don't hate me!" She begged the older girl, and before Elsa could even begin to form a response continued not even realizing what she was saying as the words spewed out of her mouth in her desperation. "Y-You're just so-so beautiful and your p-p-powers were so wonderful I thought there w-was no way you could be human, I j-just really really r-really wanted to be your friend! And now," her face crumpled in on itself in despair "Now you must hate me!" She howled into the still night air, burying her face back into her knees knowing it was no use, that there was no way anyone would be fine with having a strange five-year-old jump out of a bush and attempt to kidnap them, and she was not expecting the sudden joyous laughter that suddenly echoed through the night air.

Anna's head jerked upward as she regarded, with wide eyes, the laughing girl in front of her. She didn't understand. Elsa should be angry. She should be furious. Instead she sat in front of Anna cheeks flushed, blue eyes dancing as one of her hands clutched her stomach and the other attempted to cover her mouth, in a rather lady-like fashion, as her full laughter echoed around the pair.

Anna could only stare, forgetting her embarrassment in the light of the new side of this girl. "I don't understand." She whispered, as Elsa's humorous eyes met hers again.

"I've never met anyone like you before." Said Elsa her grin seeming to illuminate her face as her eyes roamed over Anna in astonishment.

"Me!?" Squeaked Anna, suddenly feeling embarrassment that had nothing to do with her actions earlier and everything to do with the attention this girl was suddenly giving her "There's nothing special about me, I'm-I'm just Anna."

"Well, just Anna" said the older girl, with her grin still firmly planted on her face. "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" Then softer "I'm sure your parents will be worried when they find you missing."

Anna felt her face flush again in embarrassment and she quickly pressed her forehead into the back of her knees to try to hide it. "I saw your lights" she muttered into the fabric of her pants "I've been waiting to see them, because I knew they meant you'd be here."

With her face still pressed to her knees she felt rather then saw Elsa stiffen. "Anna" Elsa said hesitantly "exactly how many times have you..." her voice faded out into the silence her question hanging in the air between them and Anna wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but it seemed as though the wind picked up, blowing lightly over the exposed portions of her face.

* * *

><p>The first time Anna saw Elsa it had been hard to convince herself it wasn't a dream. A young girl, who danced with ice and snow at her command, more graceful in that natural state then Anna could ever be even with the years of etiquette classes in front of her. She was a beautiful dream. Not that Anna hadn't wanted to speak to her that first time, but she had found herself unable, peering out from a tree and gazing open mouthed. Remaining there until long after the girl herself had left. Blinking at the little frozen pond that had been the scene of so much wonder.<p>

She had waited anxiously after that, young eyes fixed above the patch of trees where she knew that magical pond was located, for the lights to signal her again. What if they, if she, never came back? What if the lights appeared and Anna missed them? What if it had really been a dream? After all how many people actually saw real live magic in their lifetimes? But the thought of never seeing that girl dance again made Anna want to cry at its unfairness. _NO__!_ she encouraged herself _she wasn't a dream, she can't have been!_ And had returned to her nightly watch.

When at last she had spotted that glimmer in the trees, the relief that had pored through her was indescribable. She had run through the castle and was already out in the garden before realizing that she had left her coat and gloves inside. Hopping indecisively in the garden, unsure if she could stand the wait of going back to her room for her things, she finally dashed back inside the kitchen door, glancing around before running over to grab a table cloth. Wrapping it around her shoulders in a makeshift cloak she dashed back into the garden, privately very pleased with the way the cloth bellowed out behind her.

She had a scenario in her mind as she approached the pond that night. She would present herself to the girl. The fairy would realize that they were destined to be wonderful friends and would immediately take her back to her fairy world. There Anna would meet all her fairy friends, who would present her with gifts of magical chocolate in greeting, and they would go off on all sorts of brave and magical adventures together.

But something was different this night.

The instant young Anna's eyes locked onto the blond figure she knew that there was something wrong. Elsa's back was turned to her, but the feeling was there, in the air, and in laced throughout Elsa's body posture and movements. All thoughts of Anna's previous plan had deserted in an instant and Anna herself had halted, hesitant, trying to decipher the heaviness that seemed to hum through the very air.

Then Elsa moved, her arms rushing out to the right and glistening angry icicles shot out through the air. Then again to the left. Her movements jagged, lacking her previous grace, were filled with anger. Her body tense, coiled, striking out quickly first one way then another in desperation. The frozen surface of the pond heaved and was torn so frequently at her request that it looked like it wasn't frozen at all. Rather how the ocean's surface looked in a storm that tore ships into shreds except it glittered with crystals and one conflicted girl stood in it's midst.

Anna watched from behind the safety of a tree as Elsa's emotions took shape in the ice beneath her feet. Uncertain as to the cause of this obvious display as well as what response was appropriate. All she new for certain was that something was very wrong. There was a unidentifiable clenching in her chest that she couldn't explain, nor could she explain the need tugging at her to fix this. To fix what ever had caused the beautiful girl below so much distress.

The Ice was dying down slowly, heaving with less ferocity as Elsa's movements began expressing her exhaustion and an almost resignation. Anna could almost see her clearly again. Her young heart crying out at the other girl's pain as she leaned forward to try and get her first uninhibited look at Elsa that night. Just as Elsa turned and unknowingly exposed her face to the concerned red head. The gasp that had escaped Anna misted in the air as her eyes took in the girls pale features. Her beautiful face tracked with tears and marred by a large bruise decorating her right cheek.

Anna was frozen. Confusion, anger, and a fierce protectiveness were swirling and battling in her chest as she was left by the pond, once again, long after Elsa had departed. The one clear realization repeating itself over and over again in her swirling mind. _She's not safe._ This girl, this beautiful fairy of ice and snow, was in danger. And as Anna finally turned away from the pond, frozen fingers clenching at the edges of the cloth wrapped around her, another clear thought broke through to form in determination.

_If it's not safe to go with her, then I'll just have to take her with me._

Anna had not found this girl so that she could save Anna from her endlessly boring proper life.

No.

Fate had called Anna to be the hero. So, Anna decided, as her young mind raced through possibilities. She WOULD be the hero. She would save this beautiful, wonderful, snow fairy.


	3. Warm Fairy

Anna had not given much thought to what her snow fairy might feel like.

It seemed obvious to her, and most people, that a snow fairy's skin would be well . . . ice cold. One look at Elsa wouldn't dispute this idea either. With her moon-kissed skin and hair so blonde it was almost white, thoughts about Elsa's body temperature had never crossed Anna's mind. But as she hesitantly reached out to the girl next to her and placed her bare fingertips on the soft skin that had previously held that horrible bruise Anna came to the wonderful realization that Elsa was in fact . . . quite warm.

As Anna looked up into Elsa's face she couldn't stop the breath of surprise that escaped past her lips at this sudden realization. But the look in Elsa's eyes, the sudden fear, apprehension, and shame that was battling over her features as her eyes widened with comprehension about what the gesture referred to made Anna realize with a jolt that she had no idea what to say about the mark she had seen last time.

So she used the tactic she normally did when she had no idea what to say. She said the first thing that came to her mind.

"You're warm!" She burst out. Suddenly focusing way to hard on the palm she currently had pressed to Elsa's cheek as she tried to avoid the girl's eyes. "I mean not that you wouldn't be but I never really thought about it before." Then frowning "but if I had thought about it I guess I would have thought that you would feel cold, not that you look cold! Just that I thought you were a snow fairy so I would have assumed that your powers would have made you feel cold, but you're not!"

Anna's fingers ran over the girl's cheek again in awe "But you're warm" she muttered quietly "warm and soft." Then she blushed realizing her rambling hadn't taken her to any safer territory and quickly dropped her hand from Elsa's cheek.

As an uncomfortable silence began to descend between them Anna stared down at the ice, glaring as if it were some how the ice's fault that she couldn't stop herself from being embarrassing in front of the other girl.

Then feeling like it was the only thing she had left to say.

"I'm sorry" she said quietly, eyes still fixed on the ice "I didn't mean to spy on you . . . or attack you" and she winced "or embarrass you."

As Elsa's fearful silence was her only response Anna tried to blink back the regret that threatened to spill over and into tears. "I'll-I'll leave now. I wo-won't bother you anymore." She stammered out as she made to rise, avoiding looking at the girl she had made such a fool out of herself in front of.

"NO!" Elsa yelled suddenly snatching at Anna's hand before she could remove it, her voice loud and filled with an urgency and an almost desperation, "no, please" she continued softer. "No ones- No ones ever...how you not afraid to t-touch me?" Anna's eyebrows drew up. "I'm not . . . I'm not safe." The girl finished her hand still pressing Anna's into her cheek.

The older girl looked so uncertain in that moment, so openly pitiful and filled with remorse at her own words that Anna's heart clutched in her chest as she realized how much truth Elsa placed on those three words. _I'm not safe. _It was as if that was all she thought of herself. As if _not safe _was all she would ever be. Hadn't anyone ever told her how beautiful she was? How her wonderful and pure magic had left Anna speechless at the sight of them.

But the girl was holding Anna's hand to her as if she hadn't felt a warm touch in years. And there was a wonder in her eyes as she stared up at Anna that mirrored the expression Anna had worn on the night she had first seen Elsa's powers.

_Not safe._

Suddenly Anna was overwhelmed. She didn't know how to handle situations like this. She'd spent her young life behind closed gates. She was five. The number of people she had actually ever interacted with was almost non-existent

This encounter was laced with an undertone she couldn't understand. There was something going on with Elsa that no five year old should indeed ever have to understand. Because the girl in front of her was a mixture of many different things and something far more then just magic. All the emotions tumbling around in Elsa's expressive ice blue eyes as she clutched at Anna's hand seemed so . . . well human. She was missing something. The way the girl talked. The bruise on her pale face. They said something.

It was as if no one had told her she was beautiful. That her powers were the most wonderful thing Anna had ever seen. Elsa opened up so easily to Anna but it was like she was only expecting rejection in return.

As five year old Anna stared at Elsa, trying to decipher the storm of emotions that had flown over the girl's face at the warmth of a simple touch, she couldn't grasp fully what any of this meant. The only word she was able to come up with to describe this desperate girl was a strangely simple and accurate _she's lonely._

And as her chest tightened Anna realized that she knew nothing about being the hero she'd sworn to be.

But Elsa wasn't asking for a hero. In that moment, the warning _I'm not safe_ was also a request. A request for someone who didn't care that Elsa wasn't _safe_ or maybe someone who just didn't believe it.

So Anna did the one thing she knew to do.

She decided that until she knew how to become Elsa's hero, she would become her friend. So she forced away the tightness in her chest put on her most mischievous grin and leaned over towards Elsa to drawl into her ear.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?"As the girl next to her on the ice jerked her gaze upwards in surprise Anna realized that at that moment maybe just being a friend was all Elsa needed and she felt her smile spread further across her face.

* * *

><p>"You live here?" Elsa's voice was filled with shock and not a little awe as she stared up the looming walls of the Royal Palace.<p>

"Yes" Anna replied in a much more dejected manner, kicking at the snow on the ground as Elsa gazed at one of the four walls that imprisoned Anna in her everyday life.

The night had flown and (according to Elsa) was over. Anna didn't agree. A fear had been rising in her chest ever since this night of winter wonderland, snowman building, and snowball fights had ended, and Elsa had insisted she take Anna back to her house. Now Anna was trying not to choke on it as the long night and day before began to catch up on the young girl.

"Do your parents work here?" Elsa asked oblivious to the approaching tears of her new playmate.

"Yes" Anna replied. Of course the king and queen worked in the palace, but that wasn't important. Then she added quietly as she tried to hold back the sobs wanting to burst forth "Ca-Can I see y-you again please?" The last word escaping her in a desperate plea as the tears escaped down her cheeks.

Surprise cut through the older girls face and she was suddenly at Anna's side kneeling down and tentatively gripping Anna's arms.

"Shhh, Anna" She hushed the younger girl "don't cry."

"How do I know I-I'll see you again? W-What if I wake up and it's all a d-dream?" sobbed Anna and the idea seemed to take hold and she practically howled "I don't want i-it to b-be a dream!"

"Shhhh. Shhhh. Anna it's not a dream I swear." Elsa comforted a sad smile making its way to her face "but . . . but I don't know when I can. It's hard to . . . to get away. I can't tell you when I will be able to meet you-"but Anna had already hurled herself forward to envelope Elsa in the biggest hug her small arms could afford.

"I'll wait!" She said gleeful through the tears that still ran down her face "I'll watch for your lights every night till I see them!" And she buried herself in Elsa's comforting warmth as the older girl stood frozen in shock at Anna's embrace.

"We're friends now right?" Anna asked finally, the words muffled by the fact that she was speaking into Elsa's dress. She felt Elsa take a breath and after a pause, tentatively bring her arms around to return Anna's embrace.

"I'd like that." The older girl replied softly.


	4. Fairy Princess

"I'm not warm." Elsa told Anna abruptly one day as they searched for something they could use as eyes on the snowman they were building back at the pond.

"I'm just not cold." She said quietly picking the leaves off the juniper berries in her hand. "It's just because it's so cold out here that I feel warm to you."

"Really?" asked Anna, only slightly paying attention as she pulled at the _perfect_ stick for a snowman's arm. Trying to untangle it from the brambles that were currently, to her frustration, keeping it from fulfilling its life's true purpose.

"Yes" said Elsa, a smile making its way across her face as she headed over towards where Anna was struggling. "You're warmer then I am."

"That must be nice in the summer" grunted Anna giving another yank at the infuriating stick. "You'd be like my own personal cooler on hot days. Prepare yourself for lots of hugs!" She grinned over at Elsa as the girl in question promptly found great interest a large mound of snow as a light pink coloring rose to her cheeks.

Grinning Anna turned back to her snowman arm, finally wrenching it from the evil bushes and was about to exclaim in triumph when something cold exploded on the back of her head with a THUD that caused her to nearly fall forward before her cartwheeling arms caught her.

She turned back to look behind her, mouth wide gasping at air in shock. To see Elsa, looking slightly guilty but unable to keep the mischievous laughter out of her eyes, turning to run back to the pond, as Anna shook the remains of snowball from her head in a great flailing and flapping of her young limbs and chased after the older girl. The shrieks of laughter echoing through the air.

Anna realized she had been wrong about the purpose of the stick clasped within her mitten covered hand. It wasn't a snowman's arm. It was in fact a magic sword, made specifically for slaying evil snowball throwing ice fairies.

* * *

><p>"Be on your best behavior Anna."<p>

"Stay close to Kai Anna."

"Don't slouch Anna."

"Don't skip Anna."

"Remember Anna you're a princess."

Well it wasn't her fault she was a princess! She grumbled as the familiar words were repeated over her head. She hated this. She hated the nagging. The prodding. The hands that were constantly sweeping over her to straighten her clothes and hair. To remind her of all the things that she didn't do right, wasn't able to do right, the first time.

Couldn't they see she wasn't cut out to be the princess they obviously wanted? She would never have the grace or poise she knew they expected. It just didn't come naturally to her. Not like it seemed to come to her father and mother, or even to Elsa. Elsa would have made a perfect princess _maybe she could teach me_ Anna thought suddenly _she could teach a princess how to be a princess_. And she giggled slightly at the thought only to have it earn herself a disapproving look from Gerda as the maid did some last minute adjustments to the front of Anna's new dress before hurrying off to attend to the queen.

"Are you nervous princess?" Kai asked softly as he gripped the young girl's hand.

Anna just shook her head as she eyed the gate in front of her. Her father and mother were talking quietly behind her as what seemed to be the entire royal household rushed around the courtyard in a last minute flurry before the royal family were scheduled to open the gates and present themselves to the people.

Kai knelt down next to her "They will love you" He said kindly his voice warm with affection for the girl "once they know you they will love you as much as everyone in this castle." And he squeezed her hand as he pulled out something from her coat pocket. "A treat for the birthday girl" he said eye's twinkling as he handed Anna a piece of chocolate. "Don't tell Gerda."

* * *

><p>She hadn't seen the magic that night. But she went anyway. Just needing to escape the castle. Escape the title that she was cursed with and just be Anna for a few hours.<p>

It hadn't snowed in a while but the winter weather was still cold, the sky cloudy and Anna welcomed the wind as it bit and nipped at her eyes, nose, and ears as she made her way up to the pond.

She had thought that finally leaving the palace would be different. That the closed gates policy was just her parents trying to protect her and once she got into the rest of the world she would be welcomed with open arms.

She had never realized what being a princess really meant before.

Now though she realized. If people weren't afraid _for_ royal family then they were scared _of_ them. No matter what there was no open arms, no matter a princess was only ever held at arms length.

* * *

><p>She hadn't meant to wander. She really hadn't.<p>

There were so many sights, so many _people_ here. The colors and music all blending together and calling to Anna as the festival continued into the late afternoon.

The sun was setting over the town as Anna wondered among the stalls of vendors gawking at the wares. Gerda gripped her hand in a not so pleasantly tight hold. Kai had been forced to decline Anna's pleas to explore because he had to sort out some issue involving pigs and what had been going to be the wine for tonight's royal dinner.

So Anna had been reluctantly given permission to leave the open aired feast the rest of the royal household was enjoying on the condition that she did not let go of Gerda's hand. A condition she promptly forgot as she rushed forward in excitement.

"Anna!" Gerda scolding echoed after her as she rushed after the girl. Weaving her way through the crowd towards the vendor whose wares had captured the girl's attention.

They were fairies.

Little round talisman barely the width of Anna's thumb. Simple things really. A fairy design was carved into the metal and each one had a colored bead attached to the sting that threaded through the top. Anna's eyes scanned over them in wonder lighting on one that had a bead that was the exact blue of Elsa's eyes.

What happened next wasn't any one persons fault. It was a series of events that just so happened to line up perfectly with one another. As if the universe had decided it was bored and wanted to see what would happen.

As Gerda bustled over towards Anna the universe pulled a string and Gerda stumbled on the hem of her cloak catching herself from falling only by grasping on to a stranger next to her. Perfectly timed, as she turned her back on the princess to apologize, the universe pulled another and an octaball crashed onto the table that held the charms Anna was currently admiring.

Startled Anna didn't register the vender's outraged cry as his wares tumbled to the ground, her wide eyes locking onto the charm with the bead the color of Elsa's eyes as it flew through the air before landing and rolling with the offending ball down the cobblestones of a side street. The Universe pulled at her, and without a thought Anna ran after them, not realizing that she disappeared from sight just as Gerda jerked around. Looking towards the commotion that was taking place at the stall the young princess had been previously standing at only to find the princess absent among the mess.

* * *

><p>The pond was still frozen. It had been warmer these past few days and, with no Elsa, Anna had been worried the pond might have melted in their absence. It was slushy on the top and more so towards the middle but still frozen as Anna step out onto it.<p>

She had realized over the past few months that she'd been meeting with Elsa, that the older girl didn't realized she was the princess. Now Anna mused she was even more glad that she hadn't told her.

It wasn't intentional at first, just that they had both missed the obvious connection between Elsa's questions and Anna's answers about her life at the palace. Anna had realized this miscommunication with a jolt one day when she'd been complaining to Elsa after the older girl had remarked, a hint of longing coloring her voice, how nice it must be to live in the palace.

* * *

><p>"It's just rules Elsa." Anna told the her. "It's everyone and everybody telling you what you can and can't do. The tutors, the maids, even the gardeners you should here them." She began to mimic them in a high voice that unfortunately still sounded more like Anna then anyone else. "Don't run in the halls, don't stand on the chairs, don't pick the flowers, did you do go to your lessons today?" She sighed rolling over into a more comfortable position as she and Elsa drew patterns together in the snow.<p>

"It sounds like they're all very proud of what they do." Elsa replied watching as Anna tried to add legs to the cat Elsa had been drawing and making them incredibly large for the cat's body size. "They must care about the royal family very much."

"They should just join it then." Anna had grumbled not liking the topic or her failure as a snow artist at that moment. "The way they talk, it sounds like they would all make better princesses. I don't like it." She mumbled. "A princess must never be late. A princess always rises early. A princess doesn't slouch. A princess doesn't stuff her glob." Replying to the question asked by Elsa's raised eyebrow, "Yes, I actually heard them say that."

Though it was possible she had misheard. As at the time, she had been sprinting away as fast as her little legs could take her from the angry kitchen maid with her treasure of stolen chocolate sweats stuffed in-between her puffed out cheeks.

"She's lucky to have you as a friend then." Elsa said casually. Far, far, too casually for a statement that had just left Anna feeling like she'd been slapped in the face.

"Wh-What?" She stammered as Elsa continued to draw, glancing up at Anna shyly before returning her gaze downwards.

"You're friends aren't you? I mean the way you get so offended for her it's obvious you're insulted on her behalf." Elsa stated oblivious as Anna's brain whirled in an attempt to recall sometime in their previous conversations where she _must _have mentioned her birthright and at the same time found her brain frozen in it's attempts to connect her words to her mouth.

"It must be nice," Elsa continued, "to be friends with a princess. I wish I-" then interrupted herself shaking her head. "No, I could never be friends with a princess." She said laughing at herself as Anna's breath suddenly frozen in her throat as a sudden desperate fear grabbed at her heart.

"Could you imagine," Elsa chuckle was slightly bitter, "a princess sneaking into the woods in the middle of the night? It would be so irresponsible! I could never . . . I could never allow myself to put someone like that at risk fro-from my powers." Staring at her hand as it frosted over as if to prove her point. "I already feel guilty enough about exposing you, Anna."

As Elsa's voice wavered on Anna's name and her hand and eyes clenching shut as she struggled with some inner turmoil Anna, regaining some senses, jerked forward.

"You would never hurt me." Anna reassured softly bringing both her hands up comfortingly to Elsa's face. Elsa's struggle with the guilt she felt over her time spent with Anna wasn't anything new to their relationship. Anna was just glad that the girl enjoyed spending time with her enough to overlook it. But she knew that Elsa's fear was the cause of some of the longer breaks between their visits, that it sometimes overcame the girl and made her think she should stay away from Anna. Anna was just glad that Elsa always eventually called her back.

As Elsa's face slowly relaxed between Anna's warm hands, she let out a breath of cold air, opening her eyes to smile (slightly guiltily) at Anna.

"Thank you for believing that." She said quietly and Anna's chest tightened again in sadness over how sincere she sounded. "I'm not supposed to do this." Elsa continued her eye's searching over Anna's face. "I'm supposed to stay away. Keep people safe. Make sure I never hurt anyone again." Anna held her breath trying not to breath, not to move, not do anything that might distract Elsa from this rare sharing moment.

"You're lucky I'm so selfish." Elsa finally said "I really can't imagine going back to before I met you." And despite the sadness and guilt on the older girls face Anna had felt warm again.

* * *

><p>It wasn't really surprising when Anna thought about it.<p>

The fact that Elsa had never considered the idea that Anna could possible be the princess.

It had stung a little, when she had laid in bed the night after they'd had that conversation. Stung that despite all her stories about palace life, classes, and nagging servants Elsa had not ever considered that Anna was princess material.

_But honestly_, Anna thought as she dragged her feet over the slushy ice _I'm not, never have been_. Elsa was just confirming what Anna already knew. She wondered sometimes if there had been a mistake at her birth because Anna had certainly not been born to be a princess.

And she hated it. Oh she hated it.

"Princess, Princess Anna" she mocked herself kicking at the ice and suddenly she felt the tears from earlier spilling over again and she kicked harder. She knew what being a princess meant now. It meant distance. It meant separation. It meant no one wanted to befriend her. Everyone was either disappointed that she wasn't able to live up to her title or scared away because of it. Everyone, even Elsa . . . and the kids from today.

* * *

><p>She had chased after the fairy charm. Down the slanted road and through the crowds. Catching the charm first but still running to grab the troublesome ball as well.<p>

Cornering it finally, after nearly three failed attempts in the crowded street where a foot had kicked it away a second before she grabbed it. Twice, she believed on accident. Sweating and grinning in triumph she turned back with her treasures only to be surprised by a shout.

"That's mine!" Yelled a voice coming from a group of children, around Anna's age, running down the hill towards her.

The group skidded to a stop in front of her all of them breathing just as hard as Anna.

"Can I play too!" Anna squealed out in excitement, holding the ball out to them.

A yellow haired older boy looked down amused at the girl, taking the ball from her outstretched hands.

"You don't even know what we were playing." He said grinning down at the girl.

"Why is it hard?" Asked eyes dulling a little as she unconsciously stuck her lip out in a pout.

"No" he laughed, "it's not. Sure you can play what's your name?"

"Anna!" She squealed in excitement at the prospect of actually getting to play with other children. Missing the way their expressions changed at the mention of her name as she rambled on "What are we playing? I'm really fast even though I'm short! Or are we playing like an adventure game? With knights and drago-"

"That's the princess." She cut off suddenly as a little girl in the group moved to whisper in the ear of a equally short boy, her voice never the less carrying clearly over to Anna.

And Anna was suddenly aware of the silence as she looked at the group of shifting uncertain children who not moments before had been laughing and joking.

"Yeah? . . . So?" Anna's voice cracked as she tried to ignore the sudden change in the group.

"My dad will kill me if I get in trouble with the palace guards." One boy spoke shuffling awkwardly and pointedly avoiding looking at Anna who suddenly felt very very small, as he stared off to the side instead.

"Yeah, no offense Kris but if she gets hurt playing with us . . ." Another kid muttered trailing off leaving all sorts of unnamed punishments to speak in his silence.

Anna could feel the world narrowing in around her. Others were nodding in agreement and Anna looked up at the kind blonde boy desperately for some sign that they didn't all want to get rid of her.

He looked uncertain scratching his head and shuffling his feet like the others. But his eyes were kind and for a second as he looked down at her he reminded her of Elsa, he looked her age.

"Anna" he said quietly, resigned to breaking the girl's heart as he knelt down by her. "Why are you here alone? Shouldn't you be with someone? It's not right for a princess to be wondering around by herself." And Anna felt the hope rush out of her in a gasp of air. Even the kind people didn't want her.

She looked around at the children avoiding her eye, as something weighed down on her chest suffocating her. She was never going to escape it was she. It wasn't Anna that they dislike, they would never have that chance, because her title kept them from getting close enough to actually know Anna enough to dislike her. She was trapped, because what kept her from other people wasn't something she could ever change about herself. She could think of nothing she could do to fix who she'd been born as.

"Anna!" came a cry from the street as she saw Gerda pushing her way through the crowd. But she barely registered it. Standing there as the kids left one by one. The blonde boy the last to leave nodding to the girl remorsefully as Gerda reached her. Her silence continuing as Gerda walked back to the palace with her hand grasping Anna's firmly a endless flow of reprimands spewing from her lips and an endless stream of tears flowed from Anna's eyes.

* * *

><p>Anna gave a little twirl on the ice before collapsing down on it staring up with unfocused eyes. Her eyes and her heart exhausted and aching from her tears and the wind danced through her hair and on her face as she tilled her head up towards the dark night sky.<p>

Suddenly she wished that Elsa was there with her.

Because Elsa didn't see Anna as a princess. She didn't look at her as someone on a pedestal or judge her for never being able to reach the bar of expectations set before her.

To Elsa she was "just Anna."

Yet somehow, Elsa still liked "just Anna."

_So_ Anna thought _maybe I'm not so hopeless._

* * *

><p><strong>AN sorry if this is darker guys I didn't expect to take it that far, now I'm sad :( Wow this chapter was much easier to crank out then the last one and I already know what I'm doing for the next one YAYYY! :D**

** So never written an authors note before, basically I just wanted to thank some super cute reviewers for their support. You're. Wonderful. you beautiful beautiful people.  
><strong>

**And who was the guest who said Elsa was going to shit bricks because you killed me with laughter.**

**Night guys :)**


	5. Frozen Princess

She wasn't going to call Anna tonight.

No. Elsa thought, as she walked across the damp grass on her way towards their pond. _Anna can't see me like this._

She really hadn't meant to make him angry but she'd lost control.

He had announced that he was leaving again tonight, which wasn't unusual, but he was in a strangely talkative mood and he had added in a comment about eating well at the princess's birthday festival.

Elsa had not been able to control the sudden wave of resentment she had felt at his words as her empty stomach turned. Knowing that if she finished off her current ration of food now there would be nothing to eat tomorrow.

But she would have been fine.

If she had been able to stop the ice from frosting over her quill, and if he hadn't noticed.

* * *

><p>Now her face was stinging and she knew that a familiar pattern of black and blue had already started to color and spread across her cheek.<p>

She had deserved it. She knew that. Using her powers outside of her training was unacceptable.

Especially losing control of them.

Elsa sometimes feared what would happen if it was ever decided that her powers were actually uncontrollable. That despite her every effort they suddenly thought she was to dangerous to be worth the risk.

But he was gone now and wouldn't be back for days. So she allowed herself to escape, the way she always did, and went to her pond.

It was only there that Elsa allowed herself to be free with her powers. And today she just really needed to escape.

She had never been really bothered by it before. The way he treated. It made sense to Elsa. She knew she was dangerous, and a single slip up from an eight year old girl could kill anyone unlucky enough to be in the vicinity. She was cursed and dangerous. She was the reason they stayed far away from the town and any other living human being.

She knew this. But lately . . .

Elsa sighed, unable to help herself as the conflict that had been building in her over the past few months swirled inside her chest as she walked towards her pond.

Not her pond.

Their pond.

That was it. Her problem was a red haired five year old. A five year old who had managed to turn her world upside down because for the first time in forever she made Elsa feel like she wasn't a monster. And Elsa had no idea what to do about it.

Elsa had accepted what she was and what was expected of her. But it was like the younger girl had infected her. Her actions, little things like hugs and smiles, digging in under Elsa's skin and things she'd said running through her veins and bursting out of her at the worst times.

Memories of their first encounter still made heat wash over Elsa's face as she recalled Anna's words. _Beautiful, wonderful, magic_, and they acted as an armor protecting her against the everyday words _stupid, useless, and cursed _that followed her around.

But as her heart warmed it seemed to become more vulnerable because things bothered her now that shouldn't,_ like how much food she was allowed._

No one had ever wanted to get close to Elsa before. No one had ever bothered to look past the ice powers and push past their fear of her long enough to get to know the girl behind them.

Elsa hadn't even known that she could be someone else, someone besides the girl with ice powers. They had been her defining trait, consuming the life she'd lived so far. The idea that there was more to her or someone underneath it all that anyone could actually want to be friends with had never occurred to her.

But some how Anna did.

Somehow in Anna's eyes Elsa wasn't dangerous. Somehow she liked the girl underneath and in spite of her powers.

But Elsa wouldn't see her tonight.

She couldn't. Not with the bruise that was currently forming on her face.

Because Anna would care. Which meant Anna would ask questions, and Elsa didn't know how to explain. She knew, somehow, that Anna would not understand why her lack of control merited the strike and she didn't know how to explain it.

Didn't want to explain it.

* * *

><p>Why? Why was she here?<p>

Elsa didn't understand. She had almost walked right out of the bushes before she realized that her pond was already occupied.

Anna was there, without being called. Her head and shoulders slumped as she shuffled blindly around the pond scuffing her toe purposely on the thawing ice. And Elsa had a moment to appreciate the reversal of their positions as she stared out, hidden from the view of the girl on the ice, before a dejected sigh escaped Anna and Elsa suddenly became aware of the defeat written in every line of the younger girl's body posture as she wondered closer towards the pond's center.

The normally energetic girl looked so down heartened in that moment as Anna gave a final lifeless twirl before flopping down to lay on the ponds surface that Elsa's breath lodged in her chest and she nearly called out to her in her concern despite herself. She had to quickly clamped both hands over her mouth in an attempt to physically hold herself back as her heart constricted with concern before a different sound sent all thoughts of caution from her mind.

The ice that Anna was laying on was beginning to groan. Sharp cracking noises piercing through the still night air and ringing in Elsa's ears.

"No!" sneaked past her lips in a barely audible gasp. "No! Anna!" and as the sounds grew louder so did her voice.

"ANNA!"

But as she abandoned caution and fear coursed through her veins as she ran forward desperately she saw the little red head jerk her head up, face turning towards her shout, before their eyes met for one agonizing second. Confusion just barely beginning to enter Anna's expression before the ice below her shifted and terror took over for a brief moment as she tried frantically to scramble to her feet before the ice below her creaked one last time and shattered and Anna vanished into the dark water below.

"NO!" ripped out of Elsa's throat as the red hair vanished below the surface, branches tearing at her face and clothes as she rushed down the slope her terror overcoming her as she threw out her arms towards the pond and the ice rushing through her veins exploded out of her towards the pond.

_Save Anna! Please, not Anna! Not her, not her! Save her! Please not her! _The shouts rippled through Elsa's mind as her powers raced forward in front of her.

It was t0o slow for Elsa.

The landscape in front of her freezing over faster then she could run but still too slow. She could feel each heart beat in her chest each gasping breath of air. _Too slow. _Her powers had reached the ponds edge. _Thump._ The pond was freezing over. _Thump. _The frost was approaching the hole Anna had disappeared through. Was it seconds or minutes ago? Elsa couldn't tell. _Save her._ Elsa was sobbing. Begging. She'd finally reached the edge of the ice. Something was dripping down the side of her face from a branch she'd barely registered she'd scraped by.

She couldn't breath.

And the pond exploded.

A column of ice shooting upwards from the center and supported on it, encased in the blue light that accompanied every display of Elsa's power, a coughing, shivering Anna curled up and clutching desperately at the ice encasing her.

And Elsa was sobbing. Relief and terror still mingling, in her veins, in her chest, overflowing outwards.

She couldn't speak.

She just scrambled over to the trembling girl, the ice parting to let her through, and clutched the shivering girl to her chest her entire body shaking as she sobbed and Anna's trembling fingers reached forward and clutched her back.

* * *

><p>There was no where else to go.<p>

Elsa hadn't thought twice. She was breaking so many rules by bringing Anna here but she couldn't bring herself to care. She had picked up the shivering girl with an ease that would have surprised her at any other time.

But all she had been thinking was that she needed to get Anna warm. And the only place close by was the cabin she lived in.

There was no going back now.

She was now eternally grateful that she hadn't allowed the fire to die out.

She rushed inside still caring Anna who had begun shivering more violently and only hesitating for a second before she detoured slightly from the fire.

Grabbing the bedding of one of the beds she dragged it behind her as she carried Anna over to the fire and set her down in front of it.

Anna's eyes were wide even as her teeth chattered as she stared around the mostly barren cottage. Elsa tried not to let it distract her as she set to work unbuttoning and pulling the younger girls soaking outer clothes off of her.

Anna's body temperature was lower then Elsa's.

Anna actually felt cold. Not that the cold ever bothered Elsa, but it was disconcerting to touch another human who had a lower temperature then her own. And she was frightened of how it must feel for Anna.

Most of Anna's clothes were already iced over when Elsa finally managed to pull them off her. She left the under clothes tucking one of the lighter blankets around Anna's shaking form before squatting them both down by the fire with Anna placed firmly in her lap and cocooning them both inside the quilt.

The sudden lack of movement made the silence between them suddenly apparent as only the crackling of the fire and the pair's frantic breathing.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry" Anna's little voice broke out as her shivering slowly subsided. "Elsa I'm so so s-sorry."<p>

"Shhhh" Elsa hushed her quietly "It's not your fault Anna" and she rubbed her hands up and down Anna's arms, trying to both comfort and warm the other girl. Not even realizing, as she sat embracing the other girl, that this was more physical contact then she had ever experienced before with anyone in her living memory.

Anna's body temperature was slowly improving. Elsa could feel heat beginning to radiate from the girl again.

Standing up, deciding that at this point her own body temperature would hurt more then help Anna, Elsa walked around in front of the girl. Kneeling down, she secured the blanket back around the shivering girl as Anna seemed to try to sink further into herself.

Elsa's heart had not stopped its frantic beating since the first cracks of ice had appeared on the ice. Then again, perhaps it was actually slower and she was only more aware of it. Each beat reminding her of how _very_ lucky they had been. How very _close_ that had been.

How lucky _she _was that the heart of this beautiful and terrified girl in front of her was still beating.

So without a second thought she leaned forward and pressed her lips gently to Anna's still too cool forehead. Pausing there for a moment as she savored the very alive girl in front of her, breathing in the scent of her hair and feeling the tremors of her quiet sobs quaking through her body.

"I was so scared" Elsa breathed as she clutched at Anna's blankets and she slide her forehead down to rest against Anna's. "So scared."

Anna's wide blue eyes were staring up at her filled with a desperate and silent apology as she tried to hold back tears.

"You saved me." She finally whispered up to Elsa. "You were my hero."

Sincerity threaded through every word as a storm of emotions chased around her expression. "I'll never go on the ice again." She swore. "Not without y-you there. Never ever again, I promise."

"I trust you." Elsa said quietly, sliding backwards as overdue relief finally spread through her and she settled into a more comfortable position on the floor in front of the younger girl before her eyes alighted on something in Anna's hair.

She stared.

"Wha-" Anna began reaching up to see what her hair could possibly be doing to cause such a look of alarm on the older girl's face but Elsa's arm intercepted hers.

"Wait." She breathed out. An accomplishment because it looked like she had stopped breathing all together.

Hesitantly, moving so cautiously that Anna's mind began to spin with horror at what dangers could possibly be lurking within her nest of a hairstyle, Elsa reached forward to stroke a length of Anna's hair.

Her eyes alight with fear and with another emotion Anna couldn't quiet place until she realized it was the same expression Elsa had worn on the day they had first meet.

Well, the day Elsa had first meet Anna.

Elsa's eyes held fear, and not a little wonder, as she carefully pulled at a few strands of Anna's hair. The white strands of hair separating from their copper companions as Elsa held them between her slightly shaking fingers.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: *lets out sigh of relief* Got it!**

**There you go folks, sorry if the wait hurt. One more chapter of young Elsa and Anna then I'll have a gap between them meeting again.  
><strong>

**Excited anyone? **

**Any feedback and advice is wonderful as well as ideas of what you want to see. I have a basic structure planned out but any brainstorms are welcome, I'm pretty open to any ideas. Thanks for your patience with me.**

**Now I shall go make brownies. Chocolate Ahoy!**


	6. Farewell Princess

"Princess Anna get back here this instant!"

The occupants of the corridor all turned to stare either in amusement or exasperation, at a sight that had become all too common over the past few days. The young princess scrambling at top speed between the legs of the house hold staff as she expertly avoided a red faced and angry Gerda rushing behind her.

Not that anyone could blame her.

Gerda made a rather alarming sight as she chased the young princess with a pair of scissors grasped firmly in her hand.

"It is unbecoming for a princess!" The maid practically howled down the hallway at the retreating girl.

"I don't care!" Anna yelled back craning her neck to look behind her. "I don't wa-" she began to continue before she was cut off as she collided with someone's legs and abruptly fell backwards.

Blinking upwards for a moment dazed before seeing Kai staring down at her, amusement and concern warring over his expression.

"Save me Kai!" Anna squeaked before ducking around behind Kai's legs. "She's trying to cut off my hair!"

"I am not!" Gerda huffed indignantly, taking large gulps of air as she finally came to a stop in front of Anna's new human shield. "I'm only going to fix it!" She glared down at Anna. "If you hadn't gone and done whatever it is that gave you that nasty strip we wouldn't have to go through this."

"I was kissed by a fairy!" Anna replied confidently puffing out her little chest in pride as she returned Gerda's glare from behind Kai's legs.

She meant to sound confident as she yelled "You can't take it away!" but wasn't able to control how her voice wobbled and it came out as more of a desperate plea then the royal demand she'd intended.

"Kissed by a fairy?" Kai questioned his bemused eyes going from Anna to Gerda. The older woman raised her eyes to the sky as if to ask whatever deity she paid homage to exactly what she had done to have to deal with such wild tales.

"That's the only answer we've been able to get out of her." She sighed. "She just woke up one morning with that streak of blonde running through her hair and all she says about it is that she was kissed by a fairy! Look at it!" Gerda gestured exasperated. "It goes all the way to the roots! It's as if that section of hair decided it didn't want to belong to a six year old anymore and started acting like it belonged to a sixty year old instead!"

"What's going on Anna?" Kai asked, and Anna looked up surprised by the sudden seriousness in his tone.

But before she could do more than blink up at him the sudden slamming of the door behind her made the three of them jump.

They turned as the new occupant of the hall swore loudly to himself and whirled away from the door that had probably not done anything to deserve his harsh treatment.

Anna shrunk backwards again behind Kai's legs as she recognized the tell-tale black hair and scared face of Gendrik one of the more unpleasant of her father's men.

It wasn't his scars or his constantly greasy hair that made Anna wary of him. Normally Anna was wary of no one, knowing all too well how appearances could deceive and what it was like to be judged for things outside your control.

Hendal the guardsman had scars far worse than the single line that ran from Gendrik's left eye to stretch the skin at the top of his upper lip, but Hendal was far gentler and had carried Anna up seven flights of castle stairs when she'd fallen from a tree and broken her arm the previous year. Behind Hendal's scars was the man who had whispered words of comfort and kindness to a frightened child.

It was speculated that Archy, the old blind grandfather of the castle's head cook who spent his days blindly carving an endless supply of dog whistles, hadn't bathed since he'd lost his sight. But he was the owner of one of the most beautiful singing voices Arendale had ever known and was Anna's comrade in arms when it came to stealing sweets.

No it wasn't the disfigurements or hygiene that made Anna frightened of this man. Rather that as his eyes finally caught sight of the three of them standing there they seemed to fill with disdain.

He looked at them as if he would just as soon kick them as greet them.

Her first meeting with him had involved one of her more spectacular accidents and a large bowl of rather watery chocolate pudding. And Anna could not shake the memory of the way his eyes had hardened as his arm had raised or the way her heart had pounded in her ears as his fist had descend towards her face before the cook's howl of "Princess!" had echoed after her. She had flinched away only to find Gendrik, eyes still like flint, pause with his hand in the air before suddenly wiping at the large chocolate stain on the front of his tunic and finally whirling away and storming off down the hall in silence.

She had been certain he was going to hit her and the fear of that day had colored her opinion of him from then on.

Which was ridiculous. Grownups didn't go around hurting people just because they could and Gendrik was her father's man. He reported to the king himself. Though to Anna's relief, he only seemed to appear in the castle for a conference with the king every month or so.

Now he was standing there glaring at Anna, Kai, and Gerda as he muttered crossly to himself. Then with a swish of the winter cloak he always wore no matter the weather, he hurried down the hallway without a word to any of them.

"Well," Gerda huffed into the silence once Gendrik had vanished, "I don't care what secret mission the king has him working on that man is nothing but trouble!"

She exchanged a glance with Kai who let out a sigh before seeming to remember that Anna was still using his legs as a human shield. Some of the weariness lifted from his face as he reached for the princess's hand.

"It's none of our affair." He answered Gerda, still looking down at the princess. "Come along Anna, you have an etiquette class you're going to be late to and if you do well today we'll see what we can do about having chocolate cake for dessert tonight."

* * *

><p>He was snoring.<p>

Propped up against the door, his second bottle somehow still clutched in his hand.

_Leaving._

_They were leaving._

_Time was up._

The fire crackled lightly as its last remaining embers continued to flicker warming the room, and Elsa was still frozen.

Her familiar walls had slid into place too late. But they were back now. She had retreated to that familiar numbness in her mind as he had ranted and raged. She still sat where she had fallen. The broken pieces of glass from his first bottle surrounding her and the ice she had fallen on refusing to melt.

_Leaving._

This was normal. They never stayed in one place long. She should have been prepared.

_But…_

It had been so hard to block him out. What had happened to her? She was used to his insults. They had stopped affecting her a long time ago. So why did this time affect her so much?

_Weak._

She had been a fool.

_Useless._

She had betrayed herself.

_Monster._

Why did she have to feel? Her shoulders shook and a tear fell silently into her lap.

_Pathetic._

She was pathetic. She was soft. A few angry words from a drunk man at the abomination that he'd been sentenced to live the rest of his life with, and suddenly all her years of practice meant nothing. She hadn't been able to conceal it. It was her fault. Her magic had flowed so easily, so naturally outwards with her fear at the noise of the breaking glass that she hadn't even been aware of it. She had slipped on her own ice.

Her hands were still bleeding.

And they were leaving.

Tomorrow.

_Leaving._

She would need to pull the glass shards out from her hands eventually.

_Anna_

_..._

And suddenly she couldn't stop the tears as she curled into herself.

What fool she had been. She had exposed an innocent girl to such danger. She should be happy they were leaving. Happy she no longer had the choice of whether or not to expose Anna to such danger again.

_Because if she did…_

She was so selfish, because she knew she wouldn't take back the last few months. She would take those memories and store them somewhere safe, deep within herself. They would be treasured. But she would never see Anna again.

* * *

><p>No one was here.<p>

Anna stopped in confusion and looked around. The pond, normally full of color and shifting ice and a smiling blond haired girl was deserted.

She flopped down into the snow. Pouting with her bottom lip jutting out as she crossed her arms over her chest in a huff. She **had** seen the lights. Elsa **had **called her. She would just have to wait for her to come back. It wouldn't be long now.

She stared down at the tiny snow fairy ornament in her gloved hand. She would be able to give it to Elsa soon.

* * *

><p>She found foot prints behind a bush by the edge of the pond that led her all the way back to Elsa's cabin.<p>

The door was open.

The cabin where Elsa had brought her was empty. The bedding she'd been wrapped in was stripped off the frames. The fireplace she'd warmed herself at was cold. And the girl who had saved her life was no where to be seen.

The little red haired girl stood in the middle of the silent room as the first rays of the morning sun peaked in through the door behind her, clutching her snow fairy and quietly staring at the room that felt like it was so much larger then it'd been before.

**A/N**

**#Super long hello again that you don't have to read**

**Not to make excuses but just because I feel the need to rant, this chapter was originally over 5,000 words. Then I accidentally deleted the entire thing.**

**Finding the enthusiasm to rewrite something a second time that was super emotionally draining the first time, just didn't happen. :( Then life happened. But I've been super sad lately that none of my favorite elsanna authors *cough (Requ) cough* have been updating and realized I was guilty of the same thing so... **

**I was really surprised to see new comments and surprisingly encouraged by you all! :D I thought my story had just disappeared into the vastness of fanfiction. So wow. Thank you for your encouragement. I came back for you!  
><strong>

**On another note if anybody has any ideas or things they want to see in this story I love brainstorming. Feel free to send me a message here or on tumblr. My problem is that I have two different ideas on where to take this story and I'm not sure which one I want to write. **

**Also while main plots are great I'm a strong believer that it's all the little moments that make the story, so what I'm really looking for is little details or characteristics you'd like to see in the future when (spoiler!) they meet again. Is Elsa cold or shy? Does Anna have a secret hiding of horseback riding? sword fighting? ducks? How does Kristoff become best friends with a reindeer? Hans anyone? So basically I'm asking if anyone has input. Send me your ideas, AU's, all the little twirks you imagine these lovable people having and I'll do the work.**

**Probably.**

**Maybe.**

**This may seem like shameless idea stealing. But honestly I'm writing this story for fun and am encouraged when you guys find it fun too. I know I'm not the best or most creative person or writer, I was just overflowing with possible ideas one day and decided to write them down. So if other people have some great ideas I'd love to make this story as good as it can be.  
><strong>


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